World's wealthiest drop $18 bn as earnings disappoint

NEW YORK: The 100 richest people on the planet dropped $17.7 billion from their collective net worth this week after disappointing corporate earnings in the US were compounded by worries over economic growth.

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com Inc., the world's largest online retailer, lost $120 million. The Seattle-based company reported revenue that was less than analysts' estimates and posted the first quarterly net loss since 2003. Bezos, 48, ranks 21st on the list with a net worth of $22.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

"It's a better than feared type of situation," said Herman Leung, an analyst at Susquehanna International Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania-based quantitative trading firm, in a telephone interview from his San Francisco office. "The eco- systems that all these companies play in have implications to everybody else."

Lackluster earnings reports by Apple Inc. and DuPont Co. helped drag down the Standard & Poor's 500 Index 1.48 percent for the week to close at 1411.94 in New York. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the economy is still growing modestly and unemployment remains elevated as it maintains $40 billion in monthly purchases of mortgage-backed securities aimed at spurring the three-year expansion.

Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim, 72, remains the richest person in the world, with a fortune of $75.6 billion, down $2 billion. Second is Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, 56, with $62.5 billion.

Europe's richest man, Amancio Ortega, is No. 3 on the index with a net worth of $52 billion, $5.6 billion ahead of Warren Buffett, 82. The 76-year-old founder of Inditex SA, the world's biggest clothing retailer and owner of the Zara clothing chain, has gained more than $16 billion this year.